Rihm's Wolf Gang

[bhodges]

Just found this hour-long, all-Rihm concert from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, archived from last December, with some outstanding artists including Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Tabea Zimmermann (viola), and Jörg Widmann (clarinet), among others. Program:

Sphäre nach Studie für 6 Instrumentalisten (1993/2002)
Stabat Mater für Bariton und Viola
Male über Male 2 für Klarinette und 9 Instrumentalisten (2000/2008)

https://www.br-so.com/livestream-musica-viva-rihm-without-audience-p34784/

--Bruce

[Mandryka]

Fabulous, amazing Gesänge op 1 on this CD. Stramm sounds fun too

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/geometry-of-ideas/

[Mandryka]

Anyone enjoy any of the solo piano music?

[Mandryka]

I think this is a different version of Jagden und Formen than the one on the other recording -- it's 2008 while the other was released in 2002 -- though I can't tell you what the differences are.

[Mandryka]

Anyone enjoy any of the solo piano music?

Yes I do. Largely through discovering Udo Falkner's recordings.

[Mandryka]

I just find this too long -- anyone get on with it? The sound is strange, the blurb says "hyper real" -- recorded in one of Hitler's bunkers outside Berlin.

[Mandryka]

Can anyone tell me if the Wergo Hamletmaschine has the libretto in English or French?

Also, is there anyone who has a recording of Clamatio who wouldn't mind sharing it with me?

I've found a recording of Duomonolog on the web -- does anyone who could be playing, was it ever recorded commercially? Same for Gebild, a duo for trumpet and piccolo.

[petrarch]

Can anyone tell me if the Wergo Hamletmaschine has the libretto in English or French?

Unfortunately, it's in German only, even though the booklet is in both English and German.

[Mandryka]

Unfortunately, it's in German only, even though the booklet is in both English and German.

I'll give it a miss then, I just can't enjoy this sort of work so much unless I have a libretto.

By the way, if you don't know it, the more recent material on this CD - Geste zu Vedova and Epilog - are well worth hearing!

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8348002--wolfgang-rihm-geste-zu-vedova-string-quartets-epilogue

Oh, and I've started to read Le Théâtre et son Double - so far so good, I didn't realise that Artaud was so erudite.

[Mandryka]

. . . In fact I'd go as far as to say that Epilog is the peak, the summit, of his music for string ensemble.

[petrarch]

. . . In fact I'd go as far as to say that Epilog is the peak, the summit, of his music for string ensemble.

I should revisit that work, then. I realize now I probably haven't put that CD on in the last close to 5 years or so...

[Mandryka]

Does the CPO Eroberung von Mexico have an English libretto?

(Tremendous bit of music by the way!)

[Mandryka]

And here's the original Tutuguri, by Antonin Artaud. Ouf!

https://www.youtube.com/v/7gQAF0WAP5I&ab_channel=AndySenegas

[Mandryka]

Does the CPO Eroberung von Mexico have an English libretto?

(Tremendous bit of music by the way!)

And I've been told no, no libretto in English.

[ritter]

And I've been told no, no libretto in English.

Well, actually, no libretto as such in any language. The booklet reproduces Artaud's texts La Conquête du Mexique and Le Théâtre de Séraphin, plus an Octavio Paz poem also used by Rihm, and all that is translated into English. I don't think a word by word libretto would be of much use in this piece, in any case.

I was lucky enough to see it fully staged here in a Madrid almost 10 years ago now, and it's superb (but my companion said "that's the strangest thing I've ever seen in a theatre"  ).

[Mandryka]

I should revisit that work, then. I realize now I probably haven't put that CD on in the last close to 5 years or so...

It was hyperbole - this morning my feeling is that the title goes to Quartet 10. It's a cliché, but probably true, that Rihm is at his best when he's dealing with madness.

[Mandryka]

Well, actually, no libretto as such in any language. The booklet reproduces Artaud's texts La Conquête du Mexique and Le Théâtre de Séraphin, plus an Octavio Paz poem also used by Rihm, and all that is translated into English. I don't think a word by word libretto would be of much use in this piece, in any case.

I was lucky enough to see it fully staged here in a Madrid almost 10 years ago now, and it's superb (but my companion said "that's the strangest thing I've ever seen in a theatre"  ).

Well having the texts is better than nothing, though having said that I've tried to read Le Théâtre de Séraphin an got absolutely nul part! I need a commentary - have you found one?

I very much like the Séraphin music that I've heard, except maybe the etude, I maybe need to just give it more time.

As far as I can see the only opera planned in Europe for this 70th birthday year is Jakob Lenz. Nothing in France, Spain, Italy, Holland or the UK.

[Mandryka]

The Root of Man by Otavio Paz, set by Rihm in Eroberung von Mexico

I
Closer than music and the dance,

here, in the immobility,

the place of tense music,

under the great tree of my blood,

you rest. I am naked

and in my veins a power throbs,

the daughter of immobility.

This is the most immobile sky,

and this the purest nakedness.

You, dead, under the great tree of my blood.


II
Let all the voices burn

and singe my lips;

and night remain stopped

in the tallest flower.

No one yet knows your name;

your secret force moved

by the ripened gold of the stars

and the hanging night,

immobile ocean.

My love, everything grows still

in the burning voice of your name.

My love, everything grows still. You, with no name,

in the naked night of words.

III
This is your blood,

unknown, deep,
penetrating your body,

washing the unsuspecting,

unseeing banks of your self.

Innocent, far off,

in its dense insistence, in its route,

it pauses along the route of my blood.

A small wound,

it meets the light,

the air it never knew, my glances.

This is your blood, and this

the fugitive's whisper denouncing it.

And the times cluster

and return to the origin of days,

the hidden root quivers

like your electric hair where it is buried,

for life turns on that moment,

and time is a death of the times

and names and shapes forget themselves.

This is your blood, it is,

and the soul hangs in the emptiness

before the living nothing of your blood.

[Mandryka]

I'm listening to Blick auf Kolchis here - Nono vibes, sphäre vibes. Worth a listen.

https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/le-concert-de-20h/festival-presences-2019-wolfgang-rihm-diana-soh-marton-illes-et-sampo-haapamaeki-4134069

[Mandryka]

Notes on the piano music by Rudolf Frisius

https://www.frisius.de/rudolf/texte/tx1093.htm